Bill Bell is a writer and higher-education marketing professional who lives in Champaign, Illinois.

Feb 4, 2017

Letter to Rodney Davis regarding WDWS interview, February 2017

Submitted electronically February 6, 2017.

Dear Rep. Davis,

We listened with interest to your interview with WDWS on Friday. Throughout the conversation, you insisted on politicizing people’s attempts to meet and share their views with you. To claim that “the Democrats” are somehow behind these attempts, to say “that’s what the opposition does,” is incorrect. Worse, it’s the dodge of a man who’s spent his career as a political operative.

Donald Trump, his staff, and his policies present a unique threat to our nation. We believe you are ignoring this threat. That is the sum total of our connection. Some of us are democrats; some of us aren’t. Most of us have never even met. We are not “the opposition.” We are not a joke, as you described in your interview.

We can handle disagreements with our Congressman. We can respect differences of opinion. We can even do it without the “screaming” that you imagine. We are citizens, not the enemy, and we are well within our rights to expect you to listen to and weigh our concerns. Questions and conversation are Citizenship 101. It’s strange and troublesome for you to so aggressively suggest otherwise.

You consider townhalls “grandstanding.” That’s debatable but immaterial. A tele-townhall is promised but unscheduled. Requests to talk to staffers — on immigration, on President Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, on the Affordable Care Act — are ignored. In-person visits go nowhere. We are left to write letters and leave messages.

You respond by calling these actions a “joke,” by staging a fly-in press conference that is closed to the public, by giving a two-minute floor speech, or by delivering a dismissive tweet. That’s unproductive and unnecessary. It breeds mistrust, distance, and tension.

We call on you to bridge that gap rather than fan those flames. Begin engaging with your constituents in a meaningful way.

Despite your claim, we’re not interested in the next election. It’s almost two years away. Save your claims that we’re out to get you and your talk of “the opposition” for then. All we want is a representative who listens to our questions and concerns.

These are difficult times. Our questions will indeed be difficult. Answering them is your job.